The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected urgent hearing on a plea seeking Army protection for minority Kuki tribals amidst ethnic violence in Manipur. The highest court scheduled a hearing in the case for July 3.
According to the sources, senior attorney Colin Gonsalves brought up the subject on behalf of the non-governmental organisation Manipur Tribal Forum.
It is solely a law and order concern, Justices Surya Kant and M. M. Sundresh’s vacation bench said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that security agencies are on the ground and opposed the plea for an urgent hearing.
The central government and the state chief minister, according to the Manipur Tribal Forum, have teamed up to forward a social agenda that seeks to ethnically cleanse the Kuki tribal people from the northeastern state.
According to the report, the NGO pleaded with the Supreme Court not to have faith in the Centre’s resonating claims and asked for Army protection for the Kuki tribal people.
Interethnic unrest has plagued the state of Manipur ever since May 3, when members of the Kuki and Meitei communities engaged in bloodshed. The skirmishes, which resulted in the deaths of over 100 people, drove over a thousand people to evacuate their homes.
Senior politicians are not even spared by the outraged mob as ministers’ homes are vandalised and set on fire.
The nearby northeastern states are assisting the displaced people in finding housing. They are asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make money available for their protection and well-being. The politics surrounding the unrest in Manipur are also getting more heated as opposition leaders accuse the administration of being to blame for the state’s collapse in law and order.
Amit Shah, the union home minister, has visited the state on multiple occasions and has also established committees to look into the violent occurrence. The government has declared that the 32,000 or so central security forces will back the Manipur police in their efforts to put an end to the violence.
Prior to this, the top court emphasised the importance of taking appropriate action to return things to normal in Manipur in light of the lives and property lost there during the conflict between the Meitei and Kuki groups.
The Meitei people should be taken into consideration for the Scheduled Tribes list, the High Court ordered the State to consider on March 27.
The conflict in Manipur between the Christian tribal Kuki and the Hindu Meiteis erupted on May 3 following the organisation of a “Tribal Solidarity March” in the hill regions to oppose the Meitei community’s desire for Scheduled Tribe (ST) designation.
The entire State has been engulfed in violence for the past month, and the Central government has to use paramilitary forces to put things under control.
The majority of Meiteis, who make up around 53% of Manipur’s population, reside in the Imphal Valley. Another 40% of the population is made up of the Naga and Kuki tribes, who live in the hill districts.
